Originally Posted by
mike734
Secondly, anyone can make a citizens arrest. The jerk off pilot was within his rights to make the traffic stop. Of course, when the real cops showed up, they let the other guy go and questioned the pilot. Obviously he misjudged the importance of "arresting" the driver. Something tells me he often makes misjudgements. However, if the guy he pulled over had a kid in the trunk and he saved a life, he would have been a hero.
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Uh, no, in fact the pilot commited at least two felonies in this case, impersonating an officer in jurisdiction and pointing a gun along with a threat.
Trying to make a citizens arrest for traffic violations while waving a weapon around is a good way to get shot and or jailed.
Florida for example:
Jurisdiction
An officer arresting someone outside of the officer's normal jurisdiction is considered a "citizen's arrest." for example, if a Fort Lauderdale police officer, on vacation in Boca Raton, was to make an arrest, it is considered a "citizen's arrest" regardless of the fact that the person is actually a police officer. It makes no difference.
Arrest
When someone has the reasonable suspicion that a felony has been committed, a citizen's arrest might be made. The arrest is no different than any other police arrest. All relevant laws apply. Excessive force cannot be used, for example. But the general concept is that any citizen has the right to stop another who has committed a felony.
Local Enforcement
Once the arrest is made, the citizen must call the police chief of the locality in which the arrest was made. That officer then arrives at the scene--or sends a deputy--that will then read the Miranda rights and go through the other niceties of the arresting process. The local jurisdiction is responsible for any irregularities in the arresting process of the citizen in the later trial. This is to say that, a civilian, making an arrest, is treated by the courts like a trained police officer and is responsible or the same code of conduct. The implication of the law here is that all citizen's, when making an arrest under the proper circumstances of reasonable suspicion, have both the rights and duties of a police officer.
Trial
Both the arresting officer or civilian and the responding local officer then both must appear at the court trial of the defendant in the county within which the arrest was made. The judge, so it is implied, will then question the civilian on the nature of the arrest.
Read more: Florida Citizen's Arrest Laws | eHow.com
http://www.ehow.com/list_7258531_flo...#ixzz1p9ajneV2